Seven new emoji in the iOS 18.4 developer beta
Apple has included a number of new emoji in the iOS 18.4 developer beta, with characters proposed by the Unicode Consortium in May 2024 finally making their way for use in Messages.
Apple’s second developer beta for iOS 18.4 adds a number of new features, including some new emoji characters. The eight graphical symbols are coming up in Messages and other text-based apps for those who install the developer beta’s latest build, issued on Monday.
There are eight new characters appearing on the emoji list, consisting of:
- Root vegetable
- Face with bag under eyes
- Shovel
- Harp
- Splatter
- Leafless tree
- Flag of Sark
- Fingerprint
All appear under the emoji keyboard’s search function under their designated names. While they appear in the developer beta, the public will have to wait until the formal release of iOS 18.4 for their iPhone, and other Apple operating system updates, in the future.
Apple also updated the Syrian flag Emoji to reflect the current de facto flag of the country. It has a green, white, and black stripe with three red stars across the center.
For the moment, it is possible for beta users to select and add the new emoji to messages, but only others using the beta can see them. Sending the new emoji to a user on an earlier iOS version will result in squares with question marks, signifying a missing or “incorrect” element in a message.
Long process for small symbols
The process of adding new emoji to the list is astoundingly long and oddly complicated for something so seemingly frivolous.
The eight emoji were proposed by the Unicode Consortium for inclusion in Unicode 16 in May 2024. All the proposed symbols made it into the beta phase, and were approved later in the year.
However, after approval, Apple and its counterparts have to create their own designs based on the proposals, for use in iOS and other operating systems.
While eight emoji images are arriving onto public devices soon, more are on the way, with a much longer lead time.
In November 2024, the Unicode Consortium’s Emoji Standard & Research Working Group managed proposals for 164 emoji symbols. Those symbols include an orca whale, a Bigfoot-style creature, a distorted face, a ballet dancer, an apple core, a landslide, and a trombone.
If approved, that batch of emoji will form Emoji 17.0, released in September. Apple will probably include them in iOS 19 a few months later.
